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The New Mastersounds’ guitarist and bandleader Eddie Roberts has his first album apart from that great band, thanks to the Southern Rock-infused funk project The Lucky Strokes. Mississippi-based guitarist and vocalist Shelby Kemp is joined by sisters Ashely Galbraith on bass and Taylor Galbraith on drums.

Matt Pond heard Virginian and former Asheville resident Alexa Rose mention his band in her song “Wild Peppermint” and reached out with thanks and an invitation to work on some songs together. This sweet and clear-eyed collection is the result: a warm 5-song EP that shows their mutual respect for each other’s music. “The first time I heard Matt Pond PA was on a high school mix CD circa 2011”, Alexa commented on Instagram. “I was obsessed with the song Snow Day and played it over and over again. Without a doubt, I would have been a top 1% listener if Spotify had existed back then.”

Iron & Wine will release his/their seventh full-length album, Light Verse, on April 26th. The ten-track collection was produced by the band’s principal singer-songwriter Sam Beam, and includes “You Never Know.” North Carolina’s Sarah Shook has a new album Revelations coming out March 29th; we’ve got the title track. The band plays the Cat’s Cradle in Carrboro that day, and the Grey Eagle in Asheville on the 30th! And we have the first new music from The Decemberists in six years with a new single: "’Burial Ground’ is in that time-honored popsong tradition, a paean to hanging out in graveyards," says songwriter Colin Meloy. It also features vocal help from James Mercer of The Shins.

It’s been three years since we last got a full album from Galax, Virginia’s Dori Freeman. Her follow-up to Ten Thousand Roses is a wonderful blend of pop, folk, and old-time, with songs that ponder the rockiness of relationships, the injustices inherent in a divided society, and the yearning for self-acceptance.

Introducing a four-piece acoustic-based band out of Colorado, who passed through our area last September for Brevard’s Mountain Song Festival. The band draws on bluegrass, old-time, pop, and classical influences, and is made up of Bonnie Sims on mandolin (Bonnie & Taylor Sims, Everybody Loves an Outlaw, Bonnie and the Clydes), Dr. Joy Adams on cello (Nathaniel Rateliff, Darol Anger, Half Pelican, Bruce Hornsby, Bobby McFerrin, Chick Corea, Ben Folds), Hazel Royer on bass and guitar, and Eve Panning on fiddle (Lonesome Days, Barrage, Hollywood Film Score Orchestra). Big Richard plays the Grey Eagle in Asheville on Wednesday after their debut session here in Studio B.

Join us as we celebrate one of our favorite regional (Candler area) musicians, with a wonderful, humble, grounding spirit. As his website describes him, “When it comes to the modern-day singer-songwriter, he remains a bastion of musical talent and lyrical aptitude — a melodic voice-of-reason and safe haven amid a 21st century world seemingly gone mad.” ). This is his 5th solo album, in addition to his former work with Band of Horses. “[The album title track] is about letting go of innocence and facing the reality of a society that is in decline — one that is refusing to change course or even pause itself,” Ramsey says. “It’s searching for hope in all of this. It’s wanting my children to be able to experience this world with wonder and joy and not have to carry the weight of our mistakes. …I feel secure in what I do musically and I believe in what I’m writing. I try to write songs that I believe every word of. I don’t want to ever dance around something or have to sing lyrics that don’t feel like truth to me.”

Fronted by bandleader and son of East Los Angeles Joey Quinones, the group has quietly chipped away at the sounds of R&B and soul for the last half-decade. Quinones and his crew have continuously created a distinctive vibe that explores all aspects of a timeless genre, bringing together their interpretation of music through an unmistakable modern lens. Joining Quinones on vocals and keys are vocalist Adriana Flores, Christopher Manjarrez on bass, Francisco Floreson on guitar, Bryan Ponce on guitar and vocals, Luis Carpio on drums and vocals, saxophonists Eric Johnson and Steve Surman, and Jose Luis Jimenez on trombone.

“Buoyant, big-hearted avant-pop... His most infectiously joyous songs to date.” – Uncut. Deep, atmospheric, sonic gems on “Phasor”, which should appeal to fans of Jose Gonzalez/Junip. In his follow-up to his response to the quarantine lockdown album “Far In”, this one is an homage to going outside again. It’s a returning-to-life record, remembering what the sun feels like and letting it warm your skin. His tour takes him to Asheville on April 21st!

Welcome to the sixth full-length from New Jersey natives Martin Courtney (vocals, guitar), Alex Bleeker (bass, vocals), Matt Kallman (keyboards), Julian Lynch (guitar) and Sammi Niss (drums). It was produced by Grammy-winning producer Daniel Tashian (Kacey Musgraves: Courtney’s young daughter turned him on to Musgraves’ Golden Hour album) and recorded at Nashville’s famous RCA Studio A, you won’t be surprised to find a pedal-steel sound here and there, but it’s mostly that great catchy jangle-pop-indie-rock sound that the New Jersey band is known for. Real Estate had been thinking about R.E.M.’s Automatic for the People and ’90s “soft-rock radio,” the background music of their youth. Tashian helped lead them back toward it, toward an improved edition of the less self-conscious band they’d been at the start.

The Raleigh band of singer/songwriter Dave Wilson, multi-instrumentalist John Teer, bassist Greg Readling, and drummer Dan Hall continue to expand their sound and boundaries, in addition to their great canon of songs. Mandolin and banjo are blended with harmonium and lo-fi drum machine on this new album recorded at Asheville’s Echo Mountain Studios, and they’re joined by vocalist Maya de Vitry, fiddler John Mailander (Bruce Hornsby, Billy Strings) and drummer Jamie Dick (Watchhouse, Rhiannon Giddens.)